Communiqué Issued at the End of a Two Day meeting of Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions (SSANUTHRIAI), Teaching/ Specialist Hospitals/ Federal Medical Centers Sector Held on 12th and 13th of August 2015, at the National Eye Centre, Kaduna, Kaduna State.

 

The council after the meeting resolves as follows:

 

THE NEW LEADERSHIP AND THE STATE OF THE NATION

Council wishes to convey the hearty congratulations of our members to his Excellency, president Muhammadu buhari GCFR, Commander in Chief of the armed forces of the federal republic of Nigeria on his assumption of office as the president of Nigeria. Council support the bold steps he has taken to tackle the spate of insecurity in the country, particularly the continued threats of boko haram" plaguing our national life, and to break the vicious cycle of corruption through the recovery of looted funds

 

Furthermore, some pressing challenges and distortion in the health sector which have lingered compel a dire need for Mr. President to urgently intervene. Council urges Mr. President not to relent in his quest to make Nigeria great again and assures him of our unalloyed support in this regard.

 

PRIVATIZATION OF FEDERAL HEALTH INSTITUTIONS

Council notes the call from certain quarters for the privatization or outright sale of the Nations teaching hospitals under the guise of making them more efficient and reducing medical tourism. Council wishes to state that the outright sale of these hospitals will negate the purpose for which they were established in the first place and will only take the already expensive health care services out of the reach of majority of Nigerians, while the quality assurance of such services will be highly compromised due to profiteering. 

 

The laws in Nigeria permits any person or persons who want to establish private health institutions to do so; our collective properties should not be shared among some few money bags in the guise of privatization. Council further notes that the current dismal performance of our hospitals is not due to lack of skilled manpower in specialized fields of medicine, but a result of massive corruption and mismanagement. Council therefore calls on Mr. President to reorganize the management system of the hospitals to make them more efficient as is currently been done in other government organizations.

 

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMNET OF NIGERIA POLICY ON REMITTANCE OF INTERNALLY GENERATED REVENUE TO THE TREASURY SINGLE ACCOUNT OF THE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA

Council observes that the treasury single account is a part of public financial management reforms of the federal republic of Nigeria, with a lot of benefits, but suggest that measures should be put in place to ensure regular provision of funds for running the tertiary health institutions in order not to cripple their services

 

NON PAYEMENT OF RETIREMNET BENEFITS TO RETIREES

Council received widespread reports of nonpayment of retirement benefits to retirees more than one year after they disengaged from service. This development was viewed with much apprehension and we hope that the contributory pension scheme will not go the way of the previous one. Council therefore calls on the federal government to promptly remit its counterpart fund to the retirement saving accounts of all workers and also decided that it will direct its members still in service to migrate their retirement savings account from any pension fund administrator that is in the habit of delaying payment to retirees.

 

APPOINTMENT OF MINISTERS

While we recognize that it is the prerogative of Mr. President to appoint ministers, we wish to implore him that consideration should be given to highly experienced technocrats who will run the nation’s health sector without bias to any professional group. We also call on Mr. President to be faithful to his word to appoint Ministers by September 2015, in view of the enormous responsibilities of their offices.

 

PROPER FUNDING OF TERTIARY HEALTH INSTITUTIONS

Council notes the poor funding available to tertiary health institution in the country. We therefore suggest that the tertiary education trust fund act should be amended to accommodate the teaching hospitals, federal medical centers and specialist hospitals who as of necessity are also involved in teaching 

 

Signed:

Comrade M. O Ogundipe (Sector chairman)

Ademola Olajire (sector secretary)